This Early Years SIG meeting will aim to explore recent research that investigates the role of music and singing songs in supporting young children’s communication and language development. Speaker Cate Hamilton is a doctoral researcher at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, and her research looks at the relative effects of songs, chants and stories on young children’s spoken language proficiency. Prior to beginning her research career, Cate founded Babel Babies and ran early years music and movement sessions incorporating songs and stories in 10 languages at settings across south-west England. She can therefore look at the topic from the perspective of both teacher and researcher, and looks forward to discussing a variety of strategies that support such an approach with attendees. There will be time for attendees to share their experiences reflecting on how these strategies could benefit children with English as an additional language.

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Cate Hamilton